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Putin Croons in English for Hollywood Stars

By Robert Mackey December 13, 2010 9:52 amDecember 13, 2010 9:52 am

It does sound like a bizarre dream: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of Russia joining a Funkadelic saxophonist in an ice hockey arena to sing “Blueberry Hill” to Sharon Stone, Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner, Gerard Depardieu and Mickey Rourke. But video posted online by Russia Today, the Kremlin’s English-language satellite channel, confirms that this event did take place Friday night at a benefit concert for children with cancer in St. Petersburg.

As more video of the event from an official Russian news agency shows, Mr. Putin apologized in advance for his musical abilities, telling the audience after he was prodded to sing, “Like an overwhelming majority of people, I can neither sing nor play but I very much like doing it.”

To make matters even stranger, Mr. Putin also sat at a piano and played a Russian tune, “From Where the Motherland Begins,” a ditty from a Soviet-era spy movie. In July, Mr. Putin told reporters that he sang that song at an event to welcome home the ring of Russian spies expelled from the United States.

The prime minister’s performance came hours after the BBC reported that a Kremlin official said President Dimitri Medvedev might run for a second term in 2012, instead of handing the keys to the office back to Mr. Putin.

An observer of Russian politics who insisted on anonymity told Reuters after Mr. Putin’s gig, “Medvedev will now have to learn to play saxophone.”

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